Innovative digital story creators Moving Tales have released “Elly’s Lost & Found Sounds” as a free browser based interactive story for desktops and laptops. Written and illustrated by best selling author Jacqueline O Rogers, like its iBook precedent, “Elly Online” brings together an enchanting story, original sounds, music, animation, and magical interactivity. Through this test of free and open distribution, Moving Tales is exploring the meaning and value of stories in today’s hyper-connected and abundant content world and what role creators like Moving Tales play in it.

Creating a browser based interactive story experience was a new challenge for the company, who are renowned for their iOS Apps and Ebooks, including the critically acclaimed and best selling “The Pedlar Lady of Gushing Cross”.

“Elly is a wonderfully compelling character, full of curiosity and insight. We’re bringing Elly to life on-line as a completely accessible interactive experience, no middle men.” said Matthew Talbot-Kelly, Moving Tales’ Executive Producer and Creative Director. “It’s an experiment in design, coding and distribution – easy to experience and easy to share. We wanted to make Elly’s explorations of the sounds around us available with as little friction as possible. All you need is a PC or Mac.”

“Elly Online” is free – anyone interested can simply visit www.moving-tales.com/ellyonline and, in one click, start enjoying the title. Readers are playfully led through Elly’s world, and invited to interact with sounds along the way. “Elly’s Lost & Found Sounds” delights and inspires, featuring animation, interactive elements, narration, music and, of course, sounds on every page. “Elly Online” has a completely redesigned browser-centric interface, allowing an immersive experience like no other.

The company sees this project as a test of how audiences see value in free and open stories. Like all their titles, “Elly Online” is a labour of love by all involved. “I hope Elly will remind children everywhere and the child in all of us to remain playful and curious about the world of sounds around us,” says Elly’s bestselling authour (and illustrator!) Jacqueline O Rogers. In discussing the amazing “falling” read aloud and highlighted text, the coder behind “Elly Online”, Moving Tales’ Dean Warner says, “It’s kind of nuts to think about but each letter is painstakingly animated and positioned. Crucially, a user can still click each word and have it highlight while the narration continues on from that point.”

Asked for the business rationale behind Elly Online, Talbot Kelly replied, “There’s no shortage of content online, but there is a shortage of compelling and meaningful experiences. We hope to build closer relationships to people who care about those experience, allowing them to choose to support our work.” Moving Tales’ invites anyone with a PC or Mac to join them in this conceptual, design, delivery and pricing experiment.

“Elly’s Lost & Found Sounds” is also available to go, as an interactive ebook for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, through Apple’s iBookstore.